Marlborough Walking and Cycling Strategy Where pathways are possible along rivers and railways, Blenheim has already utilised some opportunities for pathway development, with other corridors already in planning. This will ultimately not achieve a dense enough walking & cycling network, and additional pathways alongside roads would be required, with all the before mentioned problems associated with it. D.4. Discussion Three approaches to creating a cycling network in the urban areas have been presented. All support the Marlborough Regional Land Transport Strategy, which states in section 9.4 (Demand Management) that “options that can be encouraged in the region should seek to influence the demand for travel, and in particular, to reduce car trips and to encourage more people to walk, cycle, catch public transport, share car trips, and to work, shop and play locally.” Although the third approach (an off-road path network) would be the most beneficial to cyclists in terms of perceived safety, convenience and attractiveness, it is considered that this could not realistically be achieved in the next decades due to the expense involved, the unsuitable legislative environment and the issue of driveway safety. Therefore the decision made has focused between providing a cycle network predominantly on major roads or a cycle network predominantly on local roads. In all reality, a mixture of both approaches will be required. In the centre of Blenheim cycling destinations are often located along major roads, so the major road network approach is much more suitable. Thus discussions have been centred on how the network from the outlying suburbs should connect to the city centre. Council seminars (with elected and technical members plus external stakeholders) have been conducted to determine the most appropriate method of cycle facility provision for Marlborough. It was decided that the network outside the central business zone should be mainly developed on local roads with signage and traffic calming measures employed, plus cycle lanes installed on some major road sections with high density traffic. xiii